thankful is an understatement, it's a privilege.

Got Off Work Early In VA. But Still Arrived Late. Remember Well Standing Outside In Line And Hearing Phil Attacking Alabama Getaway. The Outside Walls Of The Theatre Were Shaking. I Thought I Was Going To Miss It But They Just Kept On Going And Going. Got To Back Of Theatre And Soaked It In. What A Band, And So Nice Of Them To Wait For Me.
Slipped Into A Seat Near The Back Though I Had Closer Ticket. The Sound Was Incredible The Whole Place Was The Phil Zone. As Fortune Would Have It The People Sitting Next To Me And I Shared And Became Friendly. Then Offered To Sell Me An Extra Ticket For The Next Night And A Place To Stay. There Will Never Be Anything Like A Grateful Dead Concert Nor The Gestalt Community That Assembled There. God (Goddess) Bless Us Everyone.

Don't know about the rest of you but, to me, this is one of the best soundboards I've heard (like - ever). The quality of both the recording and performance are top notch. For that time frame, the band sounds in synch thru just about every tune. My guess is that the band is responding to the wonderful visual and acoustic environment there. That was one sweet place to see quality musicians play.

Unique Second set. How unique? All time, in the second set,
Scarlet > Fire was played 224 times
Terrapin and Playing in the Band, one to the other, was played 110 times.
14 times they played both combinations in the second set.
Passenger was played 13 times in the second set.
Scarlet > Fire and Passenger appear in 2 second sets, while Terrapin, Playing and Passenger appear together in 3.
But only once - this show - did all five songs appear in a second set.

bobby forgets the vocals in el paso......great quality and phil zone!

A real swing in everyone's step is felt early in this one if you give it a clean listen with a fresh ear. Like a clinic, we visit all the regular places the Dead can take us, Alabama, Tennessee, the streets and mountains, even heaven & hell via saints and devils, but the thing that strikes me most about this one is only 6 months with the band, and the places the songs were being taken to. There's some really nice, early meanderings here between Brent and the boys.
The initial energy of his arrival in '79 provided a nice lift, and was some great fun, compared to where they started the year. I love that clinky sound the boards had in that 79-82' era. I may be partial, but I believe it gave everyone a nice boost. I refer back to this one often for the sticks counting off, until the gut blast when the boards kick in Alabama, a real hot Deal, FOTD Lost/St. and poignant Rat among others. I dare you to find one missed lyric in this show.
Each member is so brightly heard in such a rich clarity, I apologize for giving this 5 stars in a way. I know for sure there are hotter shows out there so richly deserving of the 5 star rating, but this one transports us back nicely to the last month of the '70's decade. A crisp, quality recording, mixed with love and deadication, and just a real pleasure to enjoy. I was moving out of an apartment and kept playing this one over, and over hours on end! I'm not quite sure why, but I can not tire of this one.

Different from earlier in the year even. Not only is this one of my favorite tours but these cassette master sbd's have such a clean separated soundstage. Lots of definition and not the boominess found in the previous 2 years.
This show starts with a slight buzz during Alabama, on all sbd's, but quickly drops off. Beautiful Peggy o, shorter version of Cassidy, standout FOTD,
Show loses a bit of steam post drumz but the good lovin picks it back up.
Fall 79 is a very strong tour.